


Weak Knees, Strong Heart

by Nico_Jero



Series: Weak Knees, Strong Heart [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Issues, Fluff and Angst, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Revenge, Slow Burn, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 01:36:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6883723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nico_Jero/pseuds/Nico_Jero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Quest, an army brat of the old world has come a long way from confused teenager to trained soldier. But old family ties continue to hold her back as she tries to find a new purpose alongside the Brotherhood of Steel. Will she keep her footing, navigating this new world with the help of her mentor and friend, Paladin Danse or will both of them be victims of circumstance?</p><p>Starts off at the ending of Liberty Reprimed quest and goes into an AU Blind Betrayal story line and end game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. At The Core of the Problem

**Author's Note:**

> I'll probably post short stories for Quest's adventures in the Commonwealth and her meeting Paladin Danse in another post.

Standing in the bomb bay of the old Sentinel site, a heavy weight sits in the pit of Quest’s stomach. A sense of dread and realization comes in waves and she feels nauseous. She knows it is not from radiation sickness but from the guilt of what she started. She can’t keep these thoughts in anymore. If she keeps them inside they will rot her like one of those feral ghouls.

“Paladin Danse…may I have a word with you, not as my commanding officer but as a mentor and friend.”

Danse turned around from inspecting the equipment; his brown eyes soften at her tone.

“Of course, what is on your mind?”

“I don’t know how to says this,” Quest falters for a second and regains her composure… “I don’t want to disappoint you and everything I did for the Brotherhood I did whole heartily but I don’t think I can do this anymore…”

“What do you mean,” Danse says sternly.

“I don’t think I can be a part of Liberty Prime any more. Standing here surrounded by all these nukes I just realized I am about to cause another armageddon…”

“The Brotherhood of Steel would never do that,” the Paladin says defensively. “We are here to protect the world from the greater evil that the Institute is creating. Their creations are running amuck, tearing apart the rest of our fragile humanity. If you don’t want to be a part of the solution then you should leave!”

“Danse! Please listen to me,” the young Knight pleads. “I know the Institute needs to be stopped but I just can’t take being the one who drops the bomb. I have first hand experience of the terror these things can create and standing here in the middle of the aftermath, I know I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I knew I was responsible for all that suffering.”

Quest begins to shake and she feels the presence of tears forming against her will. She can’t look at Danse anymore, afraid to see if disappointment or disgust shows in his eyes. She begins to retreat into herself when a metal hand reaches for her face and directs it upwards.

“This is the first time I have seen you cry and we’ve been through some heavy shit. I was quick to dismiss your words and didn’t see the personal trauma behind them. I am sorry,” Paladin Danse looks solemn. “I can see this is truly bothering you and I don’t want this to destroy one of the best soldiers I have seen in awhile. I’ll talk with Elder Maxson and see if we can get you off this project and maybe get you some leave time as well to think.”

“I have nowhere to go,” Quest mumbles “but I wouldn’t mind going on some patrols to help the Commonwealth get rid of some mutie scum.”

Danse chuckles a little and steps back.

“Even on leave, you would work…”

He looks at her for a second longer and turns back towards his prep work.

“Thanks…Danse.”

“I know you are suppose to report to Procter Ingram after this assignment but they never said when you had to, so can you handle being here a little longer until the retrieval team arrives? Then we can head to Maxson and talk with him about switching your assignment.”

“Paladin! That is so unlike you to suggest I don’t follow an exact order,” Quest fights down a smirk.

“Don’t make me take back that decision,” Danse glares back at her, “Also, put your power armor back on before you get blasted by some radiation. I still don’t know why you insist on taking it off so much.”

“Yes, sir!”


	2. Flight or Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More swearing than Chapter One but still relatively clean. Airplane (Vertibird) accident. Ghouls and Mirelurks.

After an hour of waiting, and a run in with a glowing feral ghoul on her way to regain her power armor, Quest and Danse see the retrieval team heading their way.

“You know if I switch my assignment we might not see each other as much.”

“Are you regretting your decision,” Danse thoughtfully asks.

“No, I think I’ll be happier this way but I will miss working with you,” Quest whispers the last bit. Hoping her commanding officer doesn’t hear the longing in her voice.

“Don’t worry, I know I say the Prydwen is impressive all the time but it really isn’t that huge,” Danse reassures. 

“Sir, I cannot believe you just said that. That is mutiny for sure.”

“Well it is only forty thousand tons” Danse pauses and gets flustered “All joking aside, soldier. After we protect the Commonwealth from the Institute, there will be plenty of missions to clean up the countryside and secure the safety of the citizens.”

“So this isn’t the end then?”

“No, now lets get back to work, they are here.” Quest can’t see but she senses Danse is smiling underneath his helmet.

The Vertibirds landed a short distance away. Several high-ranking soldiers in power armor got out and began prepping the materials needed to safely secure the nukes for transportation. A soldier approaches Danse.

“Greetings Paladin Danse, it was a hell of a time getting here. The rad currents make flying difficult; however, Elder Maxson would like you to report back to the Prydwen imminently.” He then turns and address her. “Knight Quest. We were not expecting you here miss, but the Elder sent out a message requesting your presence as well.”

“Affirmative, soldier we will be on our way.”

“Sir, the Elder has requested that you take one of the Vertibirds to report in,” he pauses for a moment and adds, “I believe it is a very serious matter.”

Danse nods, “I understand. All right Knight let’s move out.”

Quest settles in at the gunners perch as Paladin Danse prepares to take flight. She watches as the soldier move quickly to retrieve the nukes but something felt off. While they were being briefed with their new orders, all the soldiers were avoiding Danse and herself and there was no usual chatter amongst them. Maybe it was just the location or the importance of the mission? 

Danse calls back to report that he is about to leave and with an upwards jerk, the Vertibird takes off. Looking down at the soldiers it becomes strange to think that Elder Maxson wouldn’t want to be more efficient if he sent Danse back with a bomb instead of making the three remaining birds do all the work?

Slowly moving across the Glowing Sea, Quest sees a Radscorpion and decides to do some target practicing only to find there were no bullets in the minigun.

“Danse? This gun isn’t loaded.”

“Don’t worry about that. They probably unloaded any extra weight to make flying easier, these air currents are tough to navigate in.”

The rest of the flight is relatively quiet. Quest sees a small Deathclaw but without any bullets she lazily watches it lumber off into the distance. As they move out of the Glowing Sea, the Vertibird begins to shutter and she could hear Danse swearing up front. Quest is jerked to the side and she grips the mini gun, catching her balance as the Vertibird pulls swiftly upwards. Climbing in an almost vertical angle.

“Sir, what is going on, Quest asks, “Is it the rad currents?”

“Damn, I don’t know,” the Paladin says trying to keep calm “Wait, the aircraft is being remotely controlled. I can’t override it!”

Sensors begin to go off, giving out warnings about the trajectory and urging a change in approach. Quest clings to the handles near the door, hoping the Paladin can override the outside commands when she sees a glint of light coming at them.

“Danse, look out a missile is coming,” Quest shouts.

Getting nervous, instinct kicks in and she launches out of the vehicle before the missile explodes into it. The shockwave sends her spiraling out of control into a free fall to the ground. Debris rains down from the sky and Quest loses conscious before she hits the ground.

Waking up to the sensors going off in her power armor, she can’t see out of her helmet but she knows her suit is a total wreck. Quest’s only hope is that the armor had enough power to let her out or it will become her coffin. Frantically pushing the button the valve creaks, then loosens, setting her free as water rushes into the opening. Gasping, she pulls herself slowly from the wreck finding herself sinking into some muck in a shallow swamp. Fiery bits of twisted metal sit halfway on the shore, while others are slowly being eaten but the soggy earth. Quest eases herself into the water, and awkwardly wades around the cattails, fumbling across submerged wreckage to find Paladin Danse. A small explosion goes off nearby and she sees a dull glim of a suit of armor partly buried in the wreckage and submerged half way into the dirty water.

“Shit…”

Frantically rushing over to Danse, she pushes off scraps of the ruined Vertibird and lifts the armor further out of the water.

“Danse, Danse answer me are you okay,” Quest asks panicky, “Danse!”

Shaking, Quest fights to open the back of the armor to free him. More explosions occur nearby but she focuses on her job. After several moments, the valve releases and she pulls out Danse’s limp body. She tries to support them both clumsily in the water, while checking for vitals. A faint pulse, good but not good enough. She begins to move him towards harder ground when she hears shouting nearby and she slinks behind some cattails to wait to see if it was friend or foe.

“Hahahaha, there is no way those traitors could survive that blast.”

“Look at this mess.”

“I bet they are in a million pieces.”

“Quiet you fools,” a command gets barked out “Fan out and search the area. We need to confirm the bodies for Elder Maxson.”

Quest feels blindsided with this information. Elder Maxson ordered this attack!?! Why would he do that to not only her but his trusted Paladin? Why such a betrayal…

A soldier comes near and Quest quickly takes a breath and pulls Danse down with her, breathing for them as she silently navigates them away, under the rad infested water. Coming up for quick breaths she travels northward under the cover of the water until she feels like she is far enough to drag them up the muddy bank. It was nice getting out of the irradiated water but they were still in the middle of a swamp. Breathing heavily, Quest checks Danse’s pulse again to find it in the same condition as before. Most of her gear was lost in the crash but she had two stimpacks hidden in her body armor. She jabs Danse with both and watches as he breathes a little easier. This is the first time she has seen Paladin Danse outside his power armor and no surprise he looks just as strong without it on. Quest wishes he were awake so he could drag his heavy body up the hill.

“Why couldn’t this be the other way around,” she mumbles to herself, “you would have no problem dragging me around.”

Sighing she grabs a hold under Danse’s arms and begins the journey towards dry land. Wet and tired, Quest takes a rest on a raised piece of land. In the distance she can see a small building built up in a tree. There could be supplies there but also enemies. Deciding to leave the Paladin resting in relative safety, Quest makes her way to the tree house. The building looks abandon but pretty sturdy. She can easily get Danse up these stairs. Poking around the base a little further she senses movement behind her. Looking back she sees a feral ghoul running at her. Reaching down for her gun she comes out empty handed. 

“Shit, I forgot I lost it in the crash!”

The ghoul launches at her and she grapples with it when a loud splashing sound comes from her right. Taking a quick glance away from the feral monster a Mirelurk Hunter comes charging at them.

“Fuck!”

Wrestling the ghoul more frantically, she finally snaps it neck when the beast makes a swipe at her. Pushing the dead feral at the hunter, she falls back and quickly searches her pockets for anything useful for attacking the shelled beast. In her left sleeve pouch she finds a small knife she uses for skinning animals. Grabbing the knife she stares down the Mirelurk as it detangles itself from the lifeless body of the ghoul. It angrily chatters at her and starts spiting acid, which Quest barely dodges due to her injuries and fatigue.

“Come here you little bitch, I had a hell of a day and I’m not going to let you stop me.”

Quest murderously glares at the shelled monster and it stops its assault and bobs up and down, chattering in place, trying to decided what to do.

“Come on or leave, damn it,” she screams out.

The hunter screeches and charges towards Quest, she braces for impact waiting for the creature to get close enough to sink her knife in the soft flesh of its face. It digs its pinchers into her suit and she feels warm blood rushing down but her adrenalin kicks in and she takes her opportunity to repeatedly stab the beast. It violently screeches and shoots Quest in the face with acid. Quest cries out as the acid burns her skin but continues to frantically stab the Mirelurk Hunter until she feels the life leave it. Collapsing on the ground and breathing heavily, Quest smears mud onto her burning face. There is a slight tingle from the rad residue in the soil but it calms the burning pain. 

Lying there for several minutes, Quest cuts off some of the fabric from her body suit to stop the bleeding on her upper arm. She wishes she had more stimpacks but they were all used them up on Danse. She forces herself up and back towards the Paladin. He was still unconscious but breathing steadily. She reaches down and gently swipes some hair off his forehead. It has gotten a little longer since they first met. He probably has been too busy for the Brotherhood to get in trimmed properly. Sighing sadly, Quest begins the difficult journey of bringing them both to the shelter.


	3. Matters of the Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU with Blind Betrayal feels. Fluff and Angst. Surprises, Happy Ending don’t come right away.

After settling Danse in on the dirty mattress to rest, Quest stumbles around the tree house looking for supplies. Her limbs feel heavy and she clumsy grabs the Rad-X she finds down by the rusted vehicle. She is tempted to take the Buffout but ultimately decides against using the steroid. She chugs half the bottle of the anti-rad drug and saves the rest for Danse. Before heading up, she stops and harvests the meat off the Mirelurk to cook up on the stove. 

Quest never liked the taste of Mirelurk meat but at this second it smelled heavenly. Zoning out on the sizzling sound of the meat cooking, she missed Paladin Danse stirring from the mattress. 

“Quest what is going on? Where are we?”

“I don’t know, sir,” she answers, flipping over the meat to cook the other side, “After being blasted out of the sky I had to drag us to safety through a swamp… at the moment we are in an abandoned tree house.”

“Damn it, I remember losing control of the Vertibird,” he clenches his fist, “We need to contact the Brotherhood immediately.”

“I don’t think we want to do that, Danse,” Quest cautions.

“What do you mean by that?”

Quest stays quiet while she plates the cooked meat. She walks over to Danse, avoiding looking at his face. She settles down at the edge of the mattress and hands over the food. Then she finally looks Danse in the eyes, pain and confusion stares back.

“Everything happened so fast, Danse, but while we were escaping I thought I overheard some Brotherhood members talking,” she whispers.

“You must have been confused,” Danse says defensively. “There is no way the Brotherhood was a part of our attack. There must be some other reason why you thought that… you were disoriented from the accident so you could be hearing things.”

“I hope so… I really do hope so,” Quest says sadly.

Quest looks down at her plate and chews slowly. Was she just confused? She begins to drift into her thoughts, trying to remember every detail before and after the crash. Danse picks at his food but looks up at her suddenly.

“What happened to your face?”

“Huh, oh it was from a Mirelurk Hunter that was protecting this place…”

“Do we have any supplies to take care of that,” Danse asks.

“Nothing survived the crash…we barely did. I had a couple stimpacts on me but I used them to stabilize you. Otherwise, I savaged a bottle of Rad-X from this place and looking around there are some weapons up top, a militia hat, and several bottles of liquor,” Quest reports.

“Pass one of those over here,” he demands.

Quest tries to raise an eyebrow but it hurts too much to try.

“I’m not going to drink it. I am going to clean up your wounds. Now pass one here.”

Quest follows orders and Danse gets busy ripping some of the fabric off his suit, food forgotten. He cleans the mud off her face and she feels the sting of the alcohol cleaning her wound. He then moves down to her shoulders and carefully cleans there, sighing.

“This is bad; did you drag me here in this condition,” worry shows clearly in his eyes.

“Not all the way but most,” she answers sheepishly.

“Thank you, Knight.”

Danse continues to clean her wounds and once done takes a swig of the last of the liquor in the bottle.

“Now you smell like a drunken soldier on leave and look like a glare from a laser rifle,” the Paladin says seriously.

“I’m sure going to charm the ladies with this look.”

Danse gives her glare and they quietly finish the rest of their meal, Quest slowly moves the plates aside and she curls up next to Danse as he stares up at the ceiling. Exhausted and burning, sleep soon claims her.

Waking up in the middle of the night, Danse is asleep and Quest is restless. She goes outside and stares at the stars, trying to avoid any thoughts but fails. She is sure she heard some Brotherhood members talking at the crash site but the Paladin doesn’t believe her. It’s going to be impossible to change his mind about going to the Prydwen but luckily for her; he is too injured to walk just yet. But they can’t stay here either. What if Quest was wrong? What if the Brotherhood was under attack and they are missing two of their soldiers or maybe they are looking for two missing “traitors”? She has to do something…

Looking around she sees a dim light coming about a mile away. It looks like a farmstead. Maybe she can go there later and pick up some supplies. Walking back into the tree house, she decides to go to the roof and clean the old weapons she found. The pipe pistol had hardly any bullets but the laser musket had several fusion cells nearby in a basket. Carefully cleaning the guns in minimal light, Quest watches as the sunrises on another morning.

000

Paladin Danse did not want her to go to the farmstead alone but he was still too weak to walk very far. Quest reassures him that she would be well prepared for any more Mirelurks that wanted to show up as she pats the musket. The journey to the farmstead was hassle free, which is rare for the Commonwealth. Getting nearer to the settlement the area becomes more familiar. She’s been here before for Proctor Teagan. As she gets closer to the house, there is evidence of a struggle. The door swigs open and a man appears with a shotgun.

“Don’t you dare come any closer or I will blast you,” a weary looking man shouts.

“Calm down, I am not here to harm you, Quest says coolly but evenly, “I am only looking for supplies to help a man from the Brotherhood of Steel.”

“Brotherhood of Steel!?! You know the Brotherhood promised to protect us if we gave them some crops but where were they when a Deathclaw attacked my family” the man venomly spits out. “Where was the Brotherhood when my little boy died? Then they had the gall to show up after it was done, asking around if I saw a young woman and a man. I told them no but they still harassed us and took our supplies. So the only thing you will find here is some lead in your belly.”

Quest raises her laser musket in defense.

“Ohhh, are you going to shoot us now? Well go ahead we have nothing else left to lose but I’m not the only one going to hell if you do,” bitter tears stream down his weathered face.

Quest surveys the scene and sees a little boy behind the man. There were two here last time…and near the garden a fresh mound of dirt. Sighing, Quest lowers her weapon.

“I am sorry about what happened to your other son and I am sorry the Brotherhood has failed you. They failed me too…”

With that, Quest backs away and disappears back into the swamp. Before reaching the tree house she stops and screams silently, letting out all her frustrations without drawing attention to her location. She wants to punch the withered tree nearby but resists the urge. She can’t afford any more injuries. Calming down she heads back to Danse but dives into some cattails when she hears the small roar of a Vertibird nearby. As it comes closer she hears from a loud speaker an announcement playing.  
_“Dear citizens of the Commonwealth, the Brotherhood of Steel needs your help with the capture of two Institute spies who have infiltrated our ranks. There is a cash reward for the capture of synth abomination Christopher Danse and his handler Nora Quest, cybernetically enhanced human. Please use caution when interacting with these two individuals, they are consider armed and dangerous. Report any suspicious activity to the Brotherhood immediately. This is an order from Elder Arthur Maxson.”_

The Vertibird whirls away repeating its announcement and Quest sits stunned in the dirty water, processing the news. Is there any truth behind that announcement? 

Wandering back to the tree house broken and beaten, Quest enters through the doorway and imminently gets pinned to the wall. A strong forearm crushes her throat and a fist angrily slams near her face.

“TELL ME THE TRUTH! ARE YOU PART OF THE INSITUTE,” Danse yells, desperation clear on every syllable. He looses the pressure on her neck to let her speak. 

Gasping, she wheezes out “I don’t know what is going on Danse but I am not a spy.”

“Oh course you would say that,” Danse spits out, “I should kill you right here but I need to know if I am not…human.”

“I don’t know, really I don’t…”Quest gently grips Danse’s arm. “I think the Brotherhood must have decoded the information I collected from the Institute and found something on it. Why else would the Brotherhood betray us like this?”

“YOU BETRAYED THE BROTHERHOOD. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WHEN YOU CAME BACK FROM YOUR SON THAT YOU WERE IN LEAGUE WITH THEM. THEY GAVE YOU THAT INFORMATION AND LET YOU GO!!” Danse is breathing heavy, hatred and sadness mixed in his eyes. “You are the reason they turned against me but there must have been a reason for this….Arthur wouldn’t turn against me if there weren’t some truth behind his words. Not after all I did for him.”

The pain in her mentors voice cut deep and it reaches a part of Quest that she was long hiding. It becomes unbearable to be in his presence without trying to pacify him.

“Shaun let me go free but he wanted me to stay with him…work for him but I came back to you and the Brotherhood. Not because I was sent there but because of my own reasons!” She pauses and breathes before continuing. “I wasn’t wholly truthful with you Danse but the information from the Institute isn’t all true either. My name isn’t Nora it is Marianne and Shaun isn’t my son but my half brother’s…”

“What, you lied about your family!?”

“The day the bombs fell, Nate lied to the Vault Tech guards by saying I was his deceased wife Nora. I was saved by my brothers lie but I had to pretend to be somebody else that I wasn’t…when I woke up to this new world it was just easier saying I was looking for my son instead of my half nephew, “Quest says sorrowfully, looking Danse in the eyes. “But Shaun is strange he looks so much like Nate and my father but his actions are nothing like them…he looked at me like I was a game and maybe I was to him but I never told him the truth about his parents. Once he showed remorse for Nate’s death I faltered. I had to save him for Nate but I couldn’t stand being in his presence and I had to return for my mission so I pretended some more…I really don’t know what happened when I was frozen but I wouldn’t put it past the Institute to turn me into some sick experiment for Shaun but I have no knowledge of it.”

Danse is silent and he slowly loosens his grip entirely and Quest slides down to the floor.

“Remember Danse, when we first met how green I was even though I thought I knew everything because I grew up around it…there is no pretending that.” She stares up at Danse but cannot get them to make eye contact. “The Brotherhood of Steel met everything to me. It reminded me of everything I lost but now I lost it all over again.”

“If you are some sick experiment what am I? I’m not even human? All these memories I thought were mine are not and everything I created for myself is a lie…I shouldn’t even be alive,” Danse says bitterly.

“Danse, no…”

“I am an abomination!! I should have died back there…you shouldn’t have tried so hard to save me,” he turns away.

“You are worth saving,” Quest quickly stands up and grabs Danse’s hand.

“No,” Danse fights. “Any second now, the Institute could flick a switch somewhere and gain control over us. They could make us do so many horrible things, Quest! Maxson saw us as a threat and the least we can do is follow his final orders and die.” 

“STOP, SAYING THINGS LIKE THAT!“ she screams, “Maxson doesn’t know everything and neither does the Institute.” Breathing heavily, “I’ll go there and I’ll demand the answers on why we are like this.”

“What is the point? We are what we are…useless tools that should be discarded when our usefulness is done before they cause harm in someone else’s hand.”

“Come to Diamond City with me,” Quest pleads. “The Brotherhood can’t touch us there and maybe we can contact Nick and find a why to stop the Institute.”

“Please, the only ones that can stop the Institute is the Brotherhood of Steel and they don’t want us anymore,” Danse sounds annoyed and turns his body away from her. “Me being a synth stands for everything that they are against. I can’t stay alive knowing what I am… I need to be the example not the exception. The only noble thing left for me to do is to die for the ideals of the Brotherhood,” Danse stubbornly says.

“The man I knew would never take the easy way out,” Quest blinks back tears but continues to fight to make Danse understand. “He would march right up to the enemy, even if that enemy was the world, and never back down for what is right. He would fight until he couldn’t anymore.”

“You are mistaken I am not a man, only a machine,” Danse says solemnly.

“Fine, then go kill yourself before we can complete our mission but don’t expect me to sit around here and watch….” Quest tears herself away from Danse but collapses against the railing, howling in pain from the ache in her heart, large tears drops fall heavily down her face. “I can’t stand seeing another person I love die,” Quest hiccups and claws at the old wood.

The ex-paladin reaches over to help her up but she fights him off.

“Don’t touch me, I can’t stand the way you are now and it’s not because you are a synth,” Quest cries out resentfully. 

She jumps over the railing and sprits off into the swamp leaving Danse behind calling for her. On her way out she quickly snatches a bottle of Buffout and shallows down some pills. They give her a boost to go on for a while but soon wear off and make her exhausted. She collapses in a ditch and discovers she is weaponless again, not really caring, she lets herself drift off to sleep, indifferent if anybody finds her or not.


	4. Support System

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU/canon divergence, Light swearing and drug use references

The journey to Diamond City was pretty uneventful. Quest figures most creatures could sense her mood and decided to stay clear, she saw a couple patrols for the Brotherhood of Steel but they were pretty noticeable and she easily avoided them. The few dumb raiders that wanted to pick a fight with her didn’t last long after she picked up some rebar. Quest long emptied the bottle of Buffout from the tree house and picked up some other drugs from the fresh corpses. Taking the drugs helped her physically move but she was still mentally exhausted. Most of the journey to the Jewel of the Commonwealth was done on autopilot. 

Walking down the bleachers, Quest sees Nat scream for Piper. The reporter rushes out to her but Quest doesn’t hear a word she says because the world goes dark.

Waking up sweating profusely but shivering up a storm, Quest throws up over a side of a bed. Luckily there was a bucket ready.

“She’s going through withdrawals, you should let me give her something, “a lazy drawl reaches Quest’s ears before she finally lifts herself up and sees the voice came from Hancock, the mayor of Goodneighbor. Along with the ghoul, near the corner Nick Valentine, a synth that helped her track down Kellogg. By her side, Piper, who was busy cleaning up Quest’s mess.

“No, she doesn’t need anymore of that crap Hancock,” Piper hisses.

“She’s not going to be any good to us in that condition.”

“Where am I…what day is it,” Quest asks shakily.

“Your over at Nicky’s place but what happened to you” the brunette dabs a wet clothe onto her forehead.

“You don’t have to fuss over me Piper.”

You were asleep for four freakin days, Blue! Let me help you a little.”

Quest makes a grunt and falls back down to her pillow. Piper continues to wipe her down with cold water, being careful around her healing wounds. The guys stay silent avoiding looking their way.

“What happened to your tin-can boyfriend,” the reporter asks as she finally finishes up changing the bandages.

“Danse? He isn’t my boyfriend.”

“Okay, okay your “daddy” or whatever kinky shit you guys in the Brotherhood call each other.”

“Piper!”

“No no, please tell us. I would like to know for educational purposes. You’ll never know when metal suits and bigotry would be a major turn on for somebody.”

“Enough of this,” Nick growls out “give the girl a break, she just got up and the whole world changed for her again.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, Quest…” Piper casts a worried look over at Valentine.

“She needs to know Piper. The sooner the better,” Nick says sternly “Look kid, I know this might be hard for you but the Railroad blew up the large airship the Brotherhood had.”

The Prydwen is gone…Quest just lays there silent not really paying attention as Nick, Piper, and Hancock tell the story. She doesn’t really know how she feels about the news. The Brotherhood of Steel felt like home to her for so long but near the end they betrayed her and Danse. She blinks back some tears and forces herself to stop thinking of the ex-paladin. He’s probably dead anyway…

“That wasn’t the only thing that happened when you were passed out, before their trash can in the sky was blown up, the Brotherhood came to Diamond City to report they had news that McDonough was a synth.” Piper’s eyes shined with excitement over her correct assumption. “They wanted to enter the city and dispose of him but the citizens of Diamond City wouldn’t allow that.” The reporter sits up straighter with pride and a smirk forms on her lips. “You see McDonough is ours and he needs to stand trial here, not shot up by some Brotherhood cronies. 

“But there are some people who are still loyal to the mayor,” Nick tiredly says.

“Ex-mayor, Piper chimes in”

“Fine ex-mayor. They don’t believe the Brotherhoods words and now they are holed up in the mayor’s office, armed to the teeth if anybody tries to go up.”

“We don’t want innocent lives lost so the head of security isn’t forcing a move and is hoping to starve them out but things are at a stand still here and the whole city is so tense.”

“WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME,” Quest screams out. “I JUST WANT TO GET REVENGE ON THE INSTITUE FOR MESSING WITH MY LIFE.”

Piper jumps from the sudden outburst and it looks like Nick turns a little paler if that was possible.

“Hold it guys,” Hancock steps in “this is too much information for her. Let me take her for a walk and let her cool her head.”

Piper and Nick just nod while Hancock helps Quest up. Once outside, the ghoul hands her a couple of pills, and told her it was Buffout. She takes them without complaint and feels a little better.

It was early morning outside, and a wind swept up the blonde’s dressing gown. She didn’t care much and nobody was around to look at her anyway. Piper was right there was a tense feeling clinging to the air. Checking her image in a reflective surface she stops and stares. 

“Whatever you went through, it sure did a number on your pretty face,” Hancock leans next to her “you almost look like a ghoul, pretty ironic huh?”

“Umm, sorry…”

“You know, I shouldn’t care anything about you after what you said to me but I can tell you are something special even when you were spouting out that Brotherhood bullshit, so I’ll forgive you. Hey, I’ll even pay for you to go over to that doctor and get your face patched up but you gotta help me.”

“Why would I help you?”

“Because we are friends. You, me, Nick, Piper, and everybody in Diamond City are friends. Hell, I’ll throw in Goodneighbor too and you know what friends do? “

Hancock stares down into Quest’s eyes and she can see the man in them.

“Friends help each other out. If you help us get to my brother, the good old mayor of Diamond City, then we can help you get back into the Institute with an army behind your back to get your revenge.”

The ex-soldier stares at Hancock and processes his words. 

“So I’ll have an army to support me and all I have to do is get you guys to the fat mayor?”

Hancock burst out laughing, “Yeah, you got that right, sunshine.”

“Okay, let me get some things first and we can head over to the doctor’s office.”

Instead of going back to Valentine’s they head up to the west stands to Kellogg’s house. Quest asks Hancock if he could wait outside while she grabs a few things. Rummaging through Kellogg’s containers she finds one of his old outfits and thinks back to the old mercenary.

_‘In the end, I can finally understand when you said we were alike… I can’t forgive you for shooting Nate but maybe I can get some revenge on the Institute for using us in their game…’_

She takes off the dressing gown and folds it up for Piper. Slipping into the grimy, black leather jacket seemed kind of comforting; it definitely provided some much needed protection. Nothing like the power armor she had in the Brotherhood but the old leathers were far more flexible. Before leaving the building, Quest grabs a gun and some drugs that sat in storage. She went too long without any weapons but she had to remind herself that this next mission had to be done without any force.


	5. A Day for Diamond City

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU/canon divergence, In Sheep’s Clothing Quest Spoilers, Non descriptive gore and drug use references, It was hard writing this chapter but I hope everybody is in character!

The doctor’s visit took a little longer then expected but once she got out of that dingy office, Quest felt like a new person. The surgeon was amazed at the amount of damage she sustained since she got blown from the sky and said she should have died a long time ago. She shrugged it off and said the Institute did an amazing job of constructing her cybernetic body and the doctor nearly drops his scalpel. Hancock had to ease the situation and joked that she took too much jet before they came in. The doctor still looks disgruntled but threw in that he could cure her addictions for additional caps.

Piper and Nick were pacing in his office, and Ellie was having a hard time staying out of their way. When Quest and Hancock returned the two looked thrilled and flocked around them.

“Wow, Blue you look like a biker chick in one of those old movies I heard about.”

Nick nods in approval, “Now, that looks like a person who is going to get some work done.”

“Yeah, after talking to Hancock I am ready to help you guys out. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can destroy the Institute.”

“Destroy the Institute!” Piper sputters, “Hancock, why in hell did you tell her that?!? We can’t destroy the Institute on our own. The Railroad is having a hell of a time and the Brotherhood is a scattered force.”

“Well maybe if we can get the Minuteman involved…”

“Nick, I can’t believe you are thinking about doing this crazy scheme!”

“Please calm down; we won’t need that many people for attacking the Institute,” Quest says while she places a comforting hand on Piper’s shoulder. “I have a plan that requires just a strong but small support team and me to infiltrate the science labs. Back when I was doing a mission for the Brotherhood of Steel I came across a very nasty virus in the form of a game, called the Red Menace. If I can install this into the computers, the virus will destroy the Institute’s support grid and halt all their productions.” She pauses before adding, “the tricky part however, once the virus hits the Monocular Relay program all traveling to and from the Institute will be halted and they will be cut off from the world.”

The room is silent for a while before somebody spoke up. “So if the infiltrating team doesn’t get out then they will be stuck there,” Nick speculates.

“Correct, unless we die first,” Quest adds solemnly.

“Well that sounds all dandy and stuff but how are we going to make the equipment for teleporting several people inside,” Piper questions. “I heard the Relay Station you made for the Brotherhood is buried under the remains of the Prydwen and the Railroad is still trying to salvage it.”

“Well Piper, that’s where you come in,” Quest gives her a big smile “I need you, Hancock and Nick to gather as many supporters that you guys can so we can collect enough scrap to make a new Relay Station.”

“I do love sweet talking people and it shouldn’t be too hard for you Piper,” Hancock smiles.

“Urgh, well I guess it’s kind poetic that the Jewel of the Commonwealth will be protecting well…the Commonwealth,” Piper sighs but a gleam of hope shines in her eyes.

000

The lift to the mayor’s office was shut off and they had to walk up the dark stairs. They found several mines laid in the stairway and Nick requested to disarm them.

“It doesn’t really matter if I get blown up if I do something wrong.”

“Nick, don’t stay stuff like that,” Quest mutters.

“Heh, you changed quite a bit since we first met,” Nick says as he disarms the mine and motions them to move forward. Quest is surprised by Nick’s comment. She was a little disturbed by Nick’s appearance when she first met him but his resourcefulness and wit soon won her over even though she was taught all synths were bad. She never thought she treated him any worse for what he was.

“What changed,” Quest inquires, while looking Nick in the eyes. He’s about to answer when a sound echoes down the stairway.

“Shush, be quiet,” Hancock interrupts.

“We are close to the top,” Piper whispers “lets sneak closer.”

Creeping up the group stops and Quest pokes out her head and sees two civilians with guns. They were just standing around the secretary’s desk looking extremely bored but none of them registered as a real threat if she approached them.

“I don’t know how long we should stay here.”

“McDonough is acting weirder and weirder.” 

“Do you really think he’s a synth?”

“I don’t know but he’s keeping his secretary and food all locked up and is muttering about a X6 over and over again.”

“Man, I don’t know how much longer I can take not eating.”

Hearing this gossip and picking out bits she could use to approach, Quest motions her companions to stay back while she walks forward, surprising the civilians. They raise their guns and prepare to fire.

“I am not here to harm you,” Quest says in a flat tone, “I am a courser by the name of X6-88. Please tell McDonough I am here for him now.”

“What!!! You are a courser,” one of the men stutters out.

“How do we know that you are a courser and not a guard trying to sneak up?”

“Why the hell do you care? She’s wearing black and says she’s a courser. This just proves McDonough is a synth!” The stutterer runs past Quest and she hears a small muffled sound from the stairway. 

“You can leave like your friend, or I will have to harm you if you stand in my way,” she says gravely.

“This isn’t worth my time,” the last man shrugs and walks past Quest, only to meet three grinning faces.

After the two guards were knocked out, the room that lead to the Mayor’s office was locked. Looking around quickly, Piper finds a button underneath the desk and pushes it. The doors swing open and a group of hungry women and children gasp at their new arrivals. The women begin to pick up weapons but Nick easily calms the situation down and tells the frighten group that there will be no repercussions on their past decisions and they are free to leave. Most of the group seemed ecstatic with the news, while a few grumbled about not receiving anything from McDonough for their loyalty. Quest stops one of the women and asks her a favor.

“What is it,” the woman sneers.

“I heard you didn’t receive anything from McDonough for all your troubles. I was wondering if we gave you a few caps if you can announce me to the mayor without him getting suspsious of the rest of my friends?” Quest motions Hancock to come closer, which he reluctantly does; muttering that she was going to make him broke.

“Oh, yeah…how about for 100 caps?”

“No, no, no,” the ghoul shakes his head “You are going to get 25 caps and like it.”

“Hmph, fine,” the woman says in annoyance and sulks to the door, “Umm, mister mayor a…” Quest whispers X6-88 “An X man 8 is here to see you.” 

Quest groans a little on the inside but she hears shuffling behind the heavy doors. The woman collects her money and hurries out of the side office just as the doors begin to move. The mayor is talking frantically.

“I knew you were going to come, I just knew it,” McDonough stops and starts running backwards as soon as he sees the person visiting wasn’t who he was hoping for. Quest rushes after him, followed closely by her three companions. 

Piper yells out, “You’re not getting off the hook that easy, McDonough” while Nick pleads for peaceful negotiations. However, the ex-mayor makes it to the back office before Quest can catch him and he draws his pipe pistol at his secretary, Geneva.

“Stop right there or I will shoot her,” McDonough says wildly “I’ll shoot every last one of you disgusting salvages if you don’t let me go!

“Calm down and let her go, we are not here to harm you,” Quest tries to appeal to the former mayor’s senses since he never seemed like a fighter.

“We only want justice,” the reporter demands.

“Do you know who the hell I am,” angrily sputters. “There is no why that I’m going stand trial and rot in prison. I am still of some use to the Institute…. They’ll send someone to wipe out this revolting city before…”

A loud gun shot erupts from behind Quest and the McDonough head bursts open in a gory mess. Since Geneva was in such close proximity, the gore splatters all over her and she starts freaking out and screaming. Piper gasps, Nick groans, and Quest is shocked into silence as she turns to Hancock.

“So the Institute replaced that bastard with a synth after all” the ghoul sighs “I was angry with him so long but who was I angry at?”

“Hancock, why in hell did you kill McDonough, Piper sighs in irritation, “He was supposed to stand trial for his crimes against Diamond City.”

“He was my brother before he had anything to do with Diamond City! I needed to find out if the rumors were true about him being a synth and once I found out they were correct I had to fix it, in memory of my brother... You heard that machine; he wanted to kill everybody in the city. I just stopped him before any of his threats became a reality.”

“Well, what is done is done,” Nick steps in before Piper starts ripping Hancock apart, “I only wish we could have gotten an outcome where everybody is happy.” Piper stomps off towards the front office, muttering to herself but taking no further actions against the ghoul. While Hancock gives the detective a small smile and leans against the wall, lost in thought.

After the afternoons events some Diamond City guards came and cleaned up the mess. Nick and Piper explained the situation and began a deep discussion with the guards about the future steps they need to take for Diamond City. Hancock and Quest were outsiders to the conversation and stayed on the sidelines. Hancock was uncharacteristically quiet and Quest wasn’t sure how to reach out to him or if she even should. She didn’t know the ghoul very well and the few times in the past she interacted with him, she let her early interactions with ghouls cloud her judgment on all of them. As the synth McDonough’s body was being taken away, Quest could sense Hancock’s discomfort.

“Hey, do you want to leave this place and grab some jet or something?”

“Yeah sure,” the ghoul weakly answers.

Before walking out, Quest gestures to Piper to indicate that she was heading out with Hancock. The reporter waves her off, busy with her discussion. Nick gives them a sideways glance but did not move from his spot.

Down in the shadows of the bleachers, Hancock mumbles that it’s not his favorite drug but takes out a couple of inhalers of jet. Taking a puff, Quest finds the world slowing down. Next to her, Hancock is finally relaxing from the ordeal upstairs.

“I wonder how long Guy was a synth…”

Quest blinks, confused by the name but it eventually clicks in. “I don’t know maybe a couple of years or maybe longer…”

“I guess that doesn’t excuse all the shitty things he did when we were growing up,” he shakes his head, trying to clear his thoughts and slowly brings the inhaler up for another puff.

They settle down into comfortable silence, just enjoying their high. Quest stares off and starts to appreciate the way the light filter through the seats above them. The warm glow falls onto her hands as time passes. Looking down, she gets caught off guard by the wrinkled hand next to hers. It will still take some time for her to get use to ghouls. Hancock must have sensed her slight movement because he turned and looked at her.

“What happened to you? You seemed so straight laced when you were hanging out with that big blockhead from the Brotherhood of Steel. Why are you doing this now?”

“Danse gave up and abandon me so I just fell back to old habits.”

“Isn’t this a form of giving up too,” Hancock questions.

Quest is quiet and stares off into space before answering “No, sometimes it’s the only thing helping you move forward.”

Blinking back some tears and thinking she’s becoming a big baby, she gets up and brushes herself off. Looking down at Hancock she offers him a hand up.

“Come on, let’s head back, the Commonwealth won’t save its self.”


	6. Sanctuary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No new warnings. :)
> 
> First time posting this chapter! Not beta'd. If you see any mistakes I will be happy to fix them.

After a couple of days of Nick, Piper, and Hancock convincing people to join their cause against the Institute. Their big break came when DJ Travis of Diamond City Radio started broadcasting their call for assistance throughout the Commonwealth. Everybody agreed it was a bold plan to broadcast over the radio stations but they were having a hard time gathering the supplies they needed for the Relay Station. But with the help of Travis and Piper sweet talking Quest into going on air with the DJ to explain the importance of their plan to take down the Institute, enough people were stirred into action and started coming from all over into Diamond City with as much scrap parts as they can carry. If they didn’t have any items to spare they offered themselves as laborers, some people even joined the city guards to keep watch over the city. Everybody was hyper vigilant, looking out for any suspicious activity that might lead to synth attacks. 

After overseeing the initial construction of the Molecular Relay Interceptor, Quest begins preparing for her journey to Sanctuary to rally the Minutemen and retrieve the Red Menace virus from an old computer terminal in the run down Hawthorn house. They needed both to take down the Institute. 

“Blue, you should let one of us come with you!”

“No, Piper you guys are more important here. I need you out here, getting more people for our cause,” Quest says firmly as she reaches down to pick up her bag.

“Don’t take to long kiddo,” the old detective says as he beats her to the bag and hands it to her “The longer this takes the more of a chance the Institute will attack us.”

“Don’t worry Nick, I’ll run up there quickly and be right back before you even know it.”

“I’m going to head out now too,” Hancock says casually. “I’ll be making my way over to Goodneighbor and scrounger up some more people.” He pauses and smiles at Quest “Do you want to walk out together, sunshine?”

Quest nods and accepts Hancock offer. While heading towards the gate, Nat comes running up to them and gives Quest a sweet roll for the road and tells her to come back soon since she hasn’t seen Piper this excited in awhile. As soon as Nat leaves, Hancock turns towards her.

‘Hey, do you need anything else to help you “move forward”, Hancock hints at their previous conversation.

“No, I have a couple things on me. I should be fine,” Quest shakes her head and whispers, aware they aren’t fully alone yet “Be careful, I’ll see you when I get back.”

The ghoul smiles a little, gives her a quick wave goodbye, and starts walking towards Goodneighbor. Quest watches as he disappears around the corner before heading in the opposite direction. It was mid morning and if everything goes well she should be in Sanctuary towards midnight.

000

The journey was going smoothly, she only had to stop a couple times to take care of a small gang of feral ghouls and she snuck around a camp of Super Mutants since she did not want to tangle with them alone. Finally, when she got the chance to sit down on the edge of the road and eat the sweet roll Nat gave her, she realized it was the first time she was alone since she left Vault 111, if you don’t count her drug-fueled escape to Diamond City. It was strange being in this world alone and she kind of wished she had Piper or Nick by her side to distract her. Sighing, she folds up the fabric the sweet roll was wrapped in and places it in her pocket before she continues to head north to the settlement that Preston Garvey, resides in. She only hopes he has heard their broadcast and is ready to help Diamond City.

Stepping into the streets of Sanctuary a little before 10pm, Quest made quicker time then she first predicted. Most of the settlers were sleeping but a guard directed her to where Preston was stationed at in far off post near the lake. Approaching him, she should hear him humming a tune and stopped to listen. She didn’t want to break his time of enjoyment. After a minute, he must have sense her watching because he stopped and turned towards her, finger near the trigger of his laser musket.

“I knew it was to soon for a change in position so I wasn’t expecting somebody coming over here but I was definitely not expecting you! You haven’t been to Sanctuary for over a month.”

“I’m here now, Preston and I need your help.”

“My help,” the militiaman asked not looking very surprised “Sure. I’m always willing to lend a hand.”

“Well, I am actually hoping you can round up some more Minutemen so they can help me take down the Institute with Diamond City,” Quest says cautiously, hoping she wouldn’t dissuade Preston away from helping.

“Diamond City? They haven’t asked for help from the Minutemen in a long time. What’s change?”

“I guess you can say they had a change in leadership and a change of heart,” Quest says, shifting her weight back and forth, feeling antsy. “The Institute switched out the mayor with a synth and a whole bunch of other people too. They’re getting tired of it and getting tired of waiting around for somebody else to get the job done…”

“Well, if the change of heart includes the Minutemen then I would gladly help them out,” Preston says cheerfully as he takes out a pen and paper to begin writing. “I’ll send out the word to the few people I know who still hold us in great regard.” The militiaman pauses and looks up. “Ohh, and Quest you should go rest. You look really tired.”

“Really? Well I guess the walk here was long…”

“No, not just that,” he says gently “You just seem more run down then before.”

“Thanks for worrying about me,” Quest smiles tightly, holding back her emotions “I’ll go home and rest.” She gives Preston a quick wave goodbye as he eyes her sadly but she turns away before he starts asking her more questions she doesn’t want to answer. 

As she nears the house she finds that little has changed in her former residence. Sure, everything was aged and decrepit but none of the new residents of the small town touched or made improvements to the furnishings. When Nate was alive she slept out on the couch but since she was unfrozen she decided to stay in the back bedroom to be near some of Nate’s things. The door to Shaun’s room was still open and she just stared inside for a couple minutes, imagining what life would have been like if the nuclear holocaust didn’t happened. Would she have gone to college like Nate wanted or fully join the military and follow the path her dad wanted? How much longer would she have stayed in this house and would that time have been happy?

“Ahh, Miss Marianne. It’s been such a long time!”

“Codsworth!?! You scared me,” Quest shouts.

“I am sorry miss, you must have been deep in thought.” The robot looks over to where she was staring. “It’s kind of sad isn’t? The family is still separated from each other.”

“Yeah,” Quest answers. She doesn’t feel like telling Codsworth that she found Shaun and that he wasn’t how they imagined him.

“Miss, do you need any assistance,” the Mr. Handy asks in his usual chipper attitude.

“Umm, maybe if you can find me a blanket. I’m going to lie down for a while,” she says quietly.

“I understand, please do not wait up for me. I will tuck you in once I find a suitable piece of fabric. “

Codsworth left as Quest begins to take off her boots and jacket to get more comfortable. Before lying down she digs into her pocket and inhales some jet before leaning back on the pillow and falling asleep.

But her sleep wasn’t peaceful, because images of the past came flooding into her mind. Her father was with her surrounded by his old military friends. Their suits crisp and clean, their medals shining brightly off their chests. She was in a pink formal dress that sparkled when she moved. She is just watching as the men are joking and laughing but she hears no sound leave their mouths. All of a sudden her dad tightly grips her arm and pulls over to a man standing in the corner, as they approach him he turns around and Danse looks at her, dressed in a dark blue suit, his medals blinding her for a second. Once she can see again, he smiles at her and mouths something Quest couldn’t hear but whatever he said she felt compelled to take his hand willing. She looks back at her father and the world becomes grey and instead of her father’s stern face a skull stares back at her. She tries to question it but Danse shakes his head and leads her to a podium. Once they get up in front of everybody, she looks out and all the men are staring back at them for a second before starting to break into laughter but in mid smile their faces begin to melt, exposing skulls. Danse looks over to her to comfort her but a sword comes through his chest from the back. At the same time, she feels a piercing pain and she looks down to find one going through her as well. Both of them crumble to the ground but instead of blood poring out, oil seeps out of the large wounds coating them in thick, black goo that restricts their movements and drags them down in a deep dark hole. Quest tries to struggle but Danse accepts his fate and looks calm as he gets pulled down into oblivion. 

Waking up, and thrashing the dirty blue blanket off of her, Quest sits straight up and struggles to put on her boot. After several failed attempts, she calms down and stares at the floor. The sun was barely coming up; she only slept a couple hours. Instead of going back to bed, Quest successful puts on her clothes and folds up the blanket. Heading outside she sees Sturges is up and she walks over to him to check out what he was doing. She gets right behind him before he says anything.

“I heard you on the radio and I like the idea of not relying on the Brotherhood or Railroad for help, that we should do it ourselves,” the mechanic says before finally looking up at her. “But you never explained your plan once you are inside the Institute.”

“I got a virus in that computer terminal at the Hawthorn house,” she says causally, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “I want to install it on the computers inside the Institute and shut the whole thing down.”

“I’ve looked at that virus quickly and decided I didn’t want anything to do with it. Whoever made it sure made that cute game deceptively nasty.”

“Yeah, nuclear armageddon are never cute no matter the form,” Quest responds quickly before getting back on track “Are you going to help us make the Relay Teleporter then?”

“Yeah, when we first heard the announcement Preston and I talked about helping you out if you came up to us and asked.” Sturges rolls his shoulders and stands up straight, as Quest feels a little annoyed the soldier didn’t say anything about this last night. “I already got some parts packed for the trip to Diamond City so once we hear from some Minutemen we can head out.”

“Well, this is actually going really smoothly,” Quest smiles. “I was afraid since you guys haven’t seen me for awhile that you would reject me.”

Sturges just chuckles a little ”That reminds me. You know that motorcycle you were tinkering on and off with before you left? I think I almost got it running.”

“What!?! Really, I almost forgot that old thing!”

“Yeah, I can show you it before we go round up Preston from his nap,” he gives her a big grin, excitement vibrating off him. Quest smiles back, clearly feeding off his energy. It has been awhile since she felt happy over such a small thing like working prewar tech. The two begin to walk over to the makeshift garage when a bright light flashes out of nowhere. Sturges gets knocked to the ground, blood pouring down his nose and onto the asphalt, as hand grips Quest’s arm tightly.

“Ms. Nora, the director would like to see you,” X6-88 says coldly before teleporting them away.


	7. The Truth Behind the Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta'd
> 
> Rated M for non-descriptive acts of scientific experimentation on an unwilling young woman. Suggestions/acts of mild violence in the beginning of the chapter, and general displays of the Institutes disregard a person’s free will and humanity that’s not prefabricated.

As soon as Quest makes it into the Institute a small army of synths approach her while X6-88 steps back. They begin removing her clothing and she tries to fight them off but receives a quick slap across the face. Out numbered, they quickly strip her of all her items and march her down the spiral staircase, naked. Scientist and synths stare at her as she gets shocked and beaten along with batons. Anger burns deep in her veins and she goes berserk, smashing her fist into the closest synth. Before she can tear another apart they inject her with a large syringe, knocking her out.

A shearing pain rips through Quest’s body as she is forcefully woken. Wires and needles are attached all over her body and she feels a current of energy running throughout her nerves, burning and twisting from her head down to her toes in a continuous loop. The pulse of energy fluctuates for a while but once the flow is just a small ripple in her veins she feels the chill in the subterranean air. She tries to cover up her breasts but her hands are strapped down. A terror runs through her at the thought that they found the compartment she had the Diamond City surgeon install into her arm but it didn’t seem like they did. The scientists are busy walking around and looking at monitors, not even paying attention to her. She tries to yell at them but only a raspy sound escapes her lips. 

She stays awake for several hours as she watches the scientists. Once in awhile, one of them would come over to her and switch out one of the chemicals in a tube. No matter what they did, there was always a dull pain, especially in her right arm. Sometimes she was able to nod off to sleep only to be woken by somebody prodding her. On one occasion, Quest was stirred awake to find her abdomen surgically cut open and a pair of doctors looking at her insides. Her body was heavily sedated so all she could do was catch glimpse of movement and bloody hands before slipping back to sleep.

She doesn’t know how long she was in that laboratory but one day the scientists were gone and the courser who brought her here was standing in front of her. She stays still and doesn’t utter a word, waiting to see if he would go away but his dark face shows no hint of impatience as he waits for her to comprehend him. After what feels like a couple of hours she finally attempts to address him but her voice is weak and breaks before she can. 

“The Director will see you now, please put this on,” X6-88 says and he lays down a hospital grown on her lap.

“What, I don’t get to keep the leathers,” Quest finally croaks out.

“If you prove to be more obedient this time around, I might see fit to return them to you,” he says coolly.

Obedient? When has she ever listened to Institute? At the moment she really didn’t care. All she wanted was to get dressed so she wasn’t exposure in front of anybody.   
She attempts to put on the grown but her right arm felt heavy and it was being uncooperative. Finally after several failed attempts, X6-88 leans over and slips the gown over her head. It was little more then a thin white sheet but it was better than nothing. Her nipples were poking through the fabric and she covers them with her left arm, holding tightly to her bicep before she realizes X6 hadn’t moved away from her yet. He stands there for several seconds just looking down at her and Quest feels him staring into her eyes behind his sunglasses. 

“For your sake, I would advise you to show penitence when in front of Father. I do not think he will continue to let your actions slide, even if you are his mother.”

Quest reminds quiet, processing those words. Why does Shaun care so much about her? Even if he thought she was Nora. Wouldn’t it be easier just to kill her since she is interfering so much? When the courser motions for her to move, she takes a couple shaking steps before finding her balance. His body language is very tense and calculating, waiting to see if she makes a wrong move but Quest behaves herself. She has some questions she would like to ask her nephew in person. 

The trip to Shaun’s apartment was quick. The scientists were busy working and didn’t pay her any attention this time around. A few synths hurried out of the way when they saw her coming but she thinks it had more to do with X6-88 then herself. Once they enter into the familiar apartments, a low voice commands them to come down the stairs. Heading down, Shaun is standing in front of a large window overlooking the labs in the Institute.

“Did you strip her of all her items,” Shaun asks without taking his eyes off the view below.

“Yes, sir, once on arrival and I double checked if she picked up any new weapons before leaving the lab.”

“Good, I need you to join the other coursers now, the assault on Diamond City is about to begin” Shaun says unemotionally.

“I understand,” the synth simply replies before heading towards the door, leaving Quest alone with Shaun and a small guard made up of synths. As the door slides shut he sighs and finally faces her.

“You should just leave Diamond City alone” she cries out, her voice breaking towards the end “Don’t you terrorize them enough with switching out their family members with fakes?”

“Be quiet,” Shaun says harshly but keeping his low tone. “This isn’t about that dirty little huddle of hunts people call a city. This is about your decision to choose them over your own family member. I am your son but your complete disregard of me is heart breaking. I would have expected this sort of behavior from a normal surface dweller but you come from a time before the war.”

“Life before the bombs fell wasn’t as great as you imagined, Shaun,” Quest quietly retorts, as she stands tall in front of her tormentor.

“No? But at least we would have each other,” he chuckles a little and fidgets, fighting himself over what to say.

“What’s wrong Shaun, you seem totally different from the last time we met.”

“I confess I feel a little perturbed at the moment,” he says after a couple seconds “I’ve been working on our meeting for a long time and I was hoping by giving you some space and allowing you to see how horrible the outside world is, that you would come back to the Institute and to me… but your actions against us are very disappointing in so many different ways.”

“Why do I matter so much? It seems like you had a nice cozy life here.” Quest tries to motion with her arms but her right was still stuck to her side.

“Yes, I agree I was well protected and cared for in the Institute but I lacked one main thing that every other child here had and that was a family.” Shaun steps closer to Quest, looking her in the eyes while continuing to speak. “When we first met I lied to you and told you I didn’t think about my parents at all.” He reaches out and caresses her face as she tries to flinch away. “But in reality, I always longed to be with you and my father. When I was alone in my room I would imagine how life would be like with a father who would teach me, a mother to love me, and if I would have any little brothers or sisters to play with. My dreams always involved us, if we were given a chance to be together as a family. So I decided to give us that chance.”

“What do you mean,” Quest whispers, repulsed by Shaun’s proximity to her and shocked that he was opening up so soon.

“If the Institute taught me anything it would be that life can be created, that I was able to rebuild my family. But I had some set backs I had to overcome to reach that goal and not until I got to be the director did I finally see some of my dream being fulfilled...” 

Shaun pauses and lets out a loud sigh before dropping to his knees to embrace her, laying his head on her stomach like a small child. Quest couldn’t tell if it was Shaun shaking or herself but she wished it would stop. However, she couldn’t take any action against him because the synth bodyguards had their laser pistols trained on her.

“Sadly, by that time I was old and I had to settle on just witnessing how we would live our lives together instead of participating. At least I had some luck on my side since I had you frozen underground.” Shaun tightens his grip. “Father was dead but I could still salvage his DNA and create a synth of him so you two could be together again. However, children cannot be produced in a coupling between a human and a synth so I had my scientists work on you so that could happen and I am happy to say after years of work we were finally able to merge into your body the right amount of original organic material and machine.” Shaun nuzzles her stomach. “We had to replace most of you but your eggs can accept the unique genetic material that makes up a male synth’s sperm. Once you and father meet again, any of my future brothers or sisters will be far superior to any human being living today. They will be the perfect specimens to rule over the simple-minded fools of the wasteland.”

Quest reaches down and tightly grips Shaun’s shoulders before forcing his head up. Fury and disgust mingle in her eyes as she stares down at her nephew. 

“Why the hell did you do that for,” she spits out “Did you really think that your plan would simply work if Nate and I saw with each other? Did you forget that I witnessed Nate getting shot!?!”

“Do I have to remind you that my bodyguards have been ordered to execute you if you make any wrong moves,” Shaun says calmly but his composure seems a little shaken as he gets up to stand for answering her last question. “I was debating on altering your mind of that fact but in the end I decided it might interfere with any “maternal” instincts you might have. So I came up with another plan where you had to look for your lost son and your reward at the end would be reuniting with not only him but your husband as well.”

Shaun is watching Quest closely and it feels like he is examining her for any weakness his words might cause in her. But she still feels mad and he continues talking hoping to pacify her, trying to get her to accept his rationality.

“That’s why I put you back into the cyro pod and let you out to get your revenge on Kellogg. I wanted you to see how bad the Commonwealth was and for you to feel like you earned your reward and to be grateful towards me for everything I created for you. I tempted you with the child synth at first because I knew this body would be disappointing to you and I was hoping you would run into one of the multiple synths of father out in the Commonwealth so you could forget everything else and return to the Institute to start your family over. But you ended up running around with that brute from the Brotherhood of Steel instead,” Shaun adds bitterly.

“Danse is very kind and noble,” Quest says defensively “Anyway he is a synth too! You didn’t plant him into the Brotherhood as a sleeper agent?”

“No, not until recently did we find out that the lost unit M7-97 was a high-ranking enemy soldier. We were thinking of sending in a courser to reprogram him as a spy but he ended up being found out and exiled based on the information you stole from us.” Shaun glares at her for not only her past transgression but for her sudden interest in the current topic. “That was just one of the many examples of your actions that interfered with the Institute after meeting up with me again.”

Quest ignores her nephew’s lasts words and smiles a little. Relieved that Danse was truly in Brotherhood of Steel with all his heart and will, that his actions before and after meeting her were not tainted and controlled by the Institute. That everything Danse earned was his own…

"You are nothing like I imagined you to be,” Shaun sadly cuts into her thoughts, as the longing in his eyes is replaced by apathy. 

“No, I wouldn’t be because you left me part human and I can make my own decisions! I am not your perfect mother and there is no such thing as one true love, Shaun,” Quest powerfully exclaims as her body starts reacting to the emotions she was trying to hold down before but are free to flow once all her questions were answered. “This isn’t a fairytale. You can’t remake your childhood by trying to recreate your parents. A person only has one life and they have to make the most of it even if it’s not perfect. Life is messy. People lie, cheat, and are set in their ways but they also have the capability to love and sacrifice in equal measures too.” Quest starts to stalk over to Shaun not caring that the bodyguards are about to shoot her. “People are unpredictable and no matter how much you try, in those labs of yours, you can never control life fully. And now before we die I’ll tell you one last story since we are family.”

Shaun is rooted in his spot, compelled by the prospect of new information. Plus, he wasn't too worry because she didn’t have any weapons on her. If she doesn’t get too close he should be safe…

“Back in 2077, I was a confused teenager trying to make a decision about my future. I had a lot of people trying to tell me to join the military, because it was family tradition. Or they told me to go to college, and make something for myself. But ultimately it was still my decision to make and I didn’t know if I liked any of those options. However, one October day all my choices were ripped from me and I became a person of circumstances. The first event I had no control over was that the Vault Tech representative was late to our house to update our family’s file about the death of my sister-in-law, Nora.” 

Something flickered in Shaun’s tired eyes as she said that name. 

“The second was how deeply my brother cared for me, that he lied to the faces of armed guards to let me into the vault; the third was the vault was run by people with hidden agendas and my family and neighbors were made to suffer for it, and lastly, the final event I had no control over is that my nephew is a self absorbed delusional prick that tries to control others.”

“You, can't..,” he cries out in rage.

“Goodbye Shaun…I hope you find what you are looking for in death.”

Quest flicks open the secret compartment holding a gun that she had the doctor in Diamond City install in her cybernetic arm and with her remaining strength she lifts up her right arm and blasts Shaun in the chest. He falls backwards in a pool of blood, laughing until he starts choking and sputtering up the red fluid. All the while this is happening the synth bodyguards take aim and shoot Quest multiple times before she takes them out. An alarm goes off, and Quest calmly walks past Shaun’s body and looks out the giant window, wobbling a little, she places a bloody hand on the window to stabilized herself and lays her head against the glass. Her eyesight blurs in and out and she can barely make out the frantic movements of the scientists but she can hear the dull thump of multiple feet coming her way. It was probably, an army of synths to terminate her but they are too late to save their master and after all the torture and experimentation Shaun put her through she can hardly move to escape.

“I guess this is the end,” Quest sighs and closes her eyes, “At least I died for a good cause, the people of the Commonwealth won’t have to worry about the boogieman no more…”

“You aren’t dying yet, soldier.”

Quickly turning around to the familiar voice, Quest blinks back some blood and tears and sees a familiar silhouette.

“Danse… is that really you?”

“Hurry, grab her and let’s go. I installed the virus already,” Sturges shouted.

“We need to get out of here now,” Preston Garvey orders.

Danse rushes over and Quest is carefully lifted up and carried to the elevator she first used to find Shaun. She sees a mix of strange and familiar faces as they all squeeze into the small box. Looking down she finds it strange that little Shaun is with them but he was probably recused from his glass cage and there is a warm brown hand wrapped around his shoulders, protectively. The elevator whines and the lights flicker but it makes it to the bottom, as the lights in the hallway start to glow dim. Taking a second in the faint light to look up, she sees the determine face of a friend, no longer controlled by self-hatred.

“Its good to see you again, Danse,” Quest says quietly with emphasize on the you. She rests her head on his chest, hurting but feeling safe again.

The ex-paladin doesn’t say anything but a small smile graces his face. The group sprints through the hallway, silently. Even little Shaun keeps up and stays close to Preston’s side. 

They make it to the Relay Control Room without any incidents. Sturges rushes over to check the status of the virus and declares it’s moving extremely fast throughout the Institute’s databases and that his blocks are making it impossible for the scientists to stop it. 

Preston motions for Quest to go first but she shakes her head.

“No take Shaun first, then you guys go.” She looks at Danse quickly and he nods knowing what she is thinking. “Danse and I will be the last ones out. I want to see everybody is safe before I go.” 

“It’s no time to argue, do as the lady says. Move, move, move.” 

Preston and Shaun step into the Relay Interceptor and in a flash they were gone. The two other members of the recovery team, a Minuteman and a Diamond City Guard step in and disappear too.

“Don’t take too long,” Sturges quips before disappearing.

The lights were shutting off in the hallway, one row at a time. Quest and Danse were about to leave, when a Gen 2 synth steps into the doorway. The ex-paladin prepares to shoot when they put it hands up in surrender. 

“Thank you, you have freed us,” the unearthly voice sincerely says. 

A smile is showing clearly on the synth’s face as the lights flick off. In a flash of light and electricity, the two soldiers disappeared.


End file.
